| Get Started | Search Center | MyFamily.com | FamilyHistory.com | Learning Center | Shop 'n Save<Picture> THE SOURCE CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH IN CHURCH RECORDS PAGE 150     <Picture>The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (revised edition) Edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking Copyright ©1997 by Ancestry Incorporated - First Printing ISBN Number 0–916489–67–1 Previous Page | Next Page The United States possesses a tremendous, sometimes bewildering, variety of religious groups that have widely differing record-keeping practices. Nevertheless, certain basic types of records found at the parish, or local, level can be identified. Types of Church Records Baptism and Christening Records Baptism or christening records almost always list at least the name of the person baptized, the date and place of birth, and the date and place of the baptism. For infant baptisms, the pastor usually recorded the parents’ names and often their place of residence, particularly if the pastor was serving a circuit rather than a single parish. Quite often, the register lists the date of birth or at least the age of the person being baptized. In addition, many baptismal records list the names of sponsors or godparents, who are often close relatives of the parents. Figure 6-1 is a transcription of the christening register of Albemarle (Protestant Episcopal) Parish, Surry and Sussex Counties, Virginia, from around 1739–1741. These entries predate the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in September 1752. Before then, the year began on 25 March. Dates between 1 January and 25 March listed both the current and succeeding year—for example, 5 January 1746/47. Under the present calendar this date would be 5 January 1747. The transcriber retained the original double-dating system to avoid confusion. The rector of Albemarle parish, the Reverend William Willie, was an unusually diligent record keeper; on page 384 of the same christening register is a page of unusual entries. Below are three: Suky, f.; o. Col Allen; i. —b. Nov.3, 1774; c. May 14, 1775. Cuba, f.; o. Mrs. Lightfoot; i.—; b. March 31, 1775; c. May 14, 1775. Ede, f.; o. Capt. Thompson; i. —; b. Dec. 1774; c. May 14, 1775. These infants are the children of slaves. The adults listed are not their parents but their owners. Thus, church records can sometimes aid in the extremely difficult task of tracing blacks before the Civil War. A second example, figure 6-2, is from the records of the First English Reformed Church of Baltimore, Maryland, around 1867–1868. This register does not contain as much genealogical information as the Albemarle register, which preceded it by 120 years. It lists no sponsors except the parents themselves. (This situation—later church records providing less information than earlier ones—is by no means unique.) Five baptisms include only the mother as a parent, which does not necessarily mean that she was widowed or that the child was illegitimate but more probably that the mother was the only parent who belonged to that church. Marriage Records The second major type of church records are marriage records. Almost all American denominations have recorded marriages, although there are some interesting exceptions. For instance, the early Puritans viewed marriage as a civil contract. Hence, marriages were performed by a civil magistrate and were not recorded in the church registers. This was not a typical situation, however. In most areas, church marriage records predate civil marriage records by many decades and sometimes even centuries. For instance, South Carolina did not record marriages (except for marriage contracts) at the county or state level until 1911. In such situations, church marriage records acquire greater importance. Church marriage records vary widely in content. Some provide nothing more than the names of the bride and groom and the date. Figure 6-3 is a published transcription of records of the First (Congregational) Church in Huntington, Long Island. This record yields an additional dividend to the genealogist: the pastor recorded the previous residences of the couple. The other extreme is demonstrated by a Roman Catholic marriage register from a parish in south-central Texas (figure 6-4). It records the date of the marriage; the names, ages, residences, birthplaces, and religion of the bride and groom; the occupation of the groom; the place where the ceremony was held; the names and birthplaces of the parents of the nuptial pair; and the name of the officiating priest. As with most Catholic records, these are in Latin, a custom often cited as an obstacle to their use by genealogists. If so, it is a minor obstacle. When the records are in columnar form, as is the case here, you can decipher the Latin headings using common sense and a Latin word list. Admittedly, this example is unusual, especially in listing the parents’ birthplaces. But Catholic, Lutheran, and German Reformed marriage records frequently list the birthplace of the bride and Death Records Church marriage records are often useful in locating an immigrant ancestor’s birthplace, but, in my professional experience, church death registers have been the single most valuable source for tracing an immigrant’s place of birth. Figure 6-5 is an alphabetized translation of the death records of Saint John’s Lutheran Church, Ruma, Illinois. Originally, churches recorded burials rather than deaths, and some churches still do. However, most American church records also list the date of death, and often they record a great deal more information. In one instance, I researched a county history that listed a German immigrant’s birthplace as Gubeardstadt, Prussia. I found no such village in any gazetteer. Fortunately, the county history also stated where the family attended church. A letter to the church (then German Evangelical, now United Church of Christ) produced a photocopy of the pertinent page of the death register, which noted that the individual had been born in Gross Bierstadt in the province of Saxony, Prussia. I then easily located the village using a standard atlas.